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Hong Kong’s Sham Elections Expose Beijing’s Tightening Grip
Hong Kong will hold elections for its Legislative Council on December 7, without a single pro-democracy candidate. The Chinese government’s attempts to present the legislature, known as the LegCo, as legitimate hardly fool anyone. Many Hongkongers quietly boycotted the previous election in 2021, resulting in record-low turnout.
Five years into its sweeping crackdown, Beijing has seized full control of the LegCo. It revised laws to ensure that only Chinese Communist Party loyalists could run, cut directly elected seats from 35 to 20 out of 90, disqualified elected pro-democracy lawmakers, and imprisoned dozens of leaders of the city’s pro-democracy movement. Pro-democracy parties have disbanded. The last active group, the League of Social Democrats, folded in June.
But eradicating the entire pro-democracy camp was evidently not sufficient. Days before the candidacy deadline, at least 22 veteran pro-Beijing lawmakers announced that they would not seek re-election. Analysts contend Beijing engineered this shake-up to install figures even more loyal to the party. Indeed, the LegCo now has a growing number of mainland officials with deep ties to the Chinese government but scant knowledge of Hong Kong. It is little wonder that election debates—which used to be highly spirited—appear as hollow and stilted as the election itself.
Hong Kong authorities are cracking down on those poking holes in the facade. Authorities arrested at least eight people for “inciting” others not to vote. In November, a national security judge sentenced a woman to one year in prison for promoting the Hong Kong Parliament, a diaspora-led initiative to establish an unofficial democratic legislature outside China.
Beijing may think that the LegCo is now a smashing success. During its current term, it approved 130 bills while rejecting only one, which would have given rights to some same-sex couples. Public hearings have dropped by 80 percent.
But a government that cannot tolerate genuine discussion and debate undermines its own legitimacy. The recent, devastating Tai Po fire, which has raised concerns of government negligence, shows that the lack of democratic institutions carries real costs—in lives but also in effective governance. Demands for government accountability following the fire appears to be making Beijing jittery. But instead of increasing repression in Hong Kong at considerable cost, the Chinese government should act to restore the openness that once defined Hong Kong’s vibrant and prosperous society.
Chancellor Merz in Israel: Germany Should Stand for Justice
Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to visit Israel on 6th of December and meet, among others, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, including the deliberate starvation of the civilian population and attacks on civilians.
Merz is putting Germany’s credibility on justice at risk.
Germany is an ICC member, and just this week assisted in the landmark transfer to the court of the first suspect sent to The Hague in the ICC’s ongoing investigation in Libya. The ICC relies on countries to carry out its warrants when suspects are on their territories.
The cooperation Germany has provided in the Libya case is just the kind of support international justice needs.
That’s particularly true now when the ICC is under threat. Russia has issued arrest warrants for court officials, and separately ICC prosecutors, judges – as well as human rights defenders advocating for justice - have been placed under punitive US financial sanctions, the latter precisely over the case against Netanyahu.
Merz would be the first German Chancellor to publicly meet with an ICC fugitive which would undermine this clear commitment to the court.
The ICC is the court of last resort for thousands of victims and their families who otherwise have no chance of justice anywhere. Without justice and legal accountability for atrocities—including those committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on October 7 and thereafter, as well as the war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide Israeli authorities carried out in Gaza—the violations and injustice are likely to continue.
Beyond justice, ongoing repression of Palestinians despite the fragile Gaza ceasefire shows why Germany should maintain pressure on Israel. Over two years, Israeli forces have killed, starved and forcibly displaced tens of thousands of civilians, devastated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, targeting hospitals, shelters, aid workers, and journalists. In the West Bank, forced displacement, excessive force, administrative detention, torture, expansion of illegal settlements and state-backed settler violence have surged—part of Israeli authorities’ ongoing crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.
Human Rights Watch has called for Netanyahu himself to be sanctioned, investigated and, as appropriate, prosecuted for these crimes.
There can be no business as usual with Netanyahu and any other individuals wanted by the ICC on charges of atrocities. Germany should instead press Israel to end its repression of Palestinians, halt weapons exports, impose targeted sanctions against Israeli officials implicated in ongoing grave abuses, suspend preferential trade agreements with Israel, ban trade with illegal settlements and commit to executing all ICC arrest warrants.
Colombia: Armed Groups Strangle Southern Communities
(Washington, DC) – Armed groups in Colombia’s southern state of Putumayo, have tightened their control over citizens’ daily lives and committed grave abuses against civilians, particularly in Indigenous communities, Human Rights Watch said today.
Since 2023, the government has been in peace talks with several armed groups that control parts of Putumayo, which is on the Ecuador border. While some negotiating parties have reached agreements to destroy weapons and replace coca crops with food, armed groups continue to establish control over and abuse people living in the area. The armed groups have killed community leaders, recruited children, restricted people’s movement, and punished those who violate their rules with fines and forced labor.
“Armed groups in Putumayo are using the peace talks as an opportunity to tighten their control over the population,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “While the peace talks focus on decreasing coca crops, armed groups are imposing their own rules in Putumayo and severely punishing those who disobey.”
In September 2025, Human Rights Watch visited Puerto Asís, Mocoa, Orito, and La Hormiga in Putumayo, and interviewed 45 people, including victims, human rights defenders, Indigenous authorities, aid workers, and government officials. Most of them feared reprisals by armed groups and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Putumayo is a strategic location for drug production and trafficking, as well as for illegal mining. The state has Colombia’s second-largest production of coca, the raw material used to produce cocaine, surpassed only by neighboring Nariño.
Currently, two of the three armed groups in Putumayo are in peace negotiations with the government. One is the Border Commands, part of a coalition known as the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army (CNEB), which operates mainly in southern Putumayo along the Ecuadorian border. The second is the Raúl Reyes Front, part of the General Staff of Blocs and Fronts (EMBF), which is in northern Putumayo, bordering Colombia’s Caquetá and Cauca states.
The Carolina Ramírez Front, part of a group known as the Central General Staff (EMC), operates in eastern Putumayo, near Caquetá and Amazonas states. It engaged in peace talks with the government between November 2023 and April 2024 but is not currently part of the negotiations.
While officially reported homicides have dropped to the lowest point in a decade, residents told Human Rights Watch that armed groups often force communities to collect and bury the bodies of those the groups kill, apparently to conceal the crimes. Humanitarian workers and local authorities said the groups have been targeting community and Indigenous leaders. Human Rights Watch has documented several such cases.
In one recent case, on September 7, Jhon Fredy Rico, a member of a Community Action Board in Puerto Guzmán, was killed shortly after he dropped his son off at a soccer match. Local leaders and humanitarian workers said they believed Border Commands members had killed him in retaliation for participating in an event connected to the peace negotiations between the government and an opposing group.
The armed groups impose their “rules” over entire communities and threaten anyone who reports their crimes and abuses. They have pressed communities to participate in meetings related to peace talks, attend social gatherings, and participate in protests in defense of the armed group’s interests, community leaders and humanitarian workers said.
In February, community leaders reported that residents were forced to take to the streets in support of the talks with the CNEB and to demand the release of Geovany Andrés Rojas, known as “Araña,” the top commander of the Border Commands, who was arrested in Bogotá on February 13. Community leaders said that the group also prohibits protests against oil companies in parts of Putumayo.
Armed groups also coerce people to plant coca and sell it to them, even as they reach agreements with the government to replace coca with food, Indigenous authorities and humanitarian workers said.
Those interviewed described a series of other abuses, including:
Recruiting children through social media and from rural boarding schools, and threatening teachers or relatives who report these cases. The Colombia Ombudsperson’s Office registered 25 cases of child recruitment between 2024 and 2025, though those interviewed said the true scale is far larger because most cases go unreported.Restricting cultural and spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples including the Awá, Nasa, and Siona communities. “Spiritual activities can no longer be held at night due to curfews imposed by the Border Commands,” an Indigenous leader said. Imposing curfews and barring people from leaving their community because of clashes or threats. Between April and November, 2025, the Carolina Ramírez Front confined roughly 350 people from the Indigenous communities of Umancia and Guaquira, in the municipality of Puerto Leguízamo, making it harder for them to obtain food and other essential goods.Imposing forced labor as a punishment and forcing people to build rural roads that the groups use to gain support from local communities, in the absence of government authorities and public services. These roads have also led to significant illegal logging.Pressuring Indigenous governors to include their members in community censuses, an apparent effort to make sure they are subject to Indigenous justice systems, instead of the national justice system, if they are arrested.Requiring individuals in rural areas controlled by the Border Commands to carry an identification card issued by Community Action Boards and local Indigenous authorities. “The identification card is more important than the national ID issued by the government,” because you cannot move freely without it, an Indigenous leader said.“The government needs to urgently address the situation in Putumayo and implement a robust justice and security strategy to protect the population, particularly Indigenous peoples,” Goebertus said.
US: Processing Freeze Scapegoats Immigrants, Asylum Seekers
(Washington, DC) – The Trump administration’s latest actions on immigration policy appear to be based on punitive hostility toward people of particular nationalities and carry an unmistakable current of racism as well, Human Rights Watch said today. The administration recently suspended immigration processing for nationals from 19 countries on its existing travel ban list and suspended pending asylum procedures for all nationalities in a dramatic escalation of its anti-immigrant policy agenda.
“Nothing meaningfully links the 19 countries except the administration’s opportunistic stigmatization and exclusion of people based on where they were born,” said Tanya Greene, US Program director at Human Rights Watch. “This sweeping change is not about safety. It is about scapegoating entire nationalities to justify discriminatory policies.”
In the immediate aftermath of a deadly incident in Washington, DC on November 26, 2025, in which an Afghan immigrant allegedly attacked two National Guard troops, killing one, President Donald Trump said he would “permanently pause migration from all third world countries,” alongside other racially charged comments disparaging Somalis in particular.
Those comments were followed by new policies that halt a range of immigration processes, including green card and citizenship grants, for people from the following countries: Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. Additionally, there is a suspension of all pending asylum applications regardless of the asylum seeker’s country of nationality.
US officials have not offered any evidence that asylum seekers generally or nationals from these 19 countries pose heightened public safety risks compared to people from anywhere else. Instead, the new policy directed against the 19 nationality groups revives and expands the logic of first Trump administration’s notorious “Muslim ban,” Human Rights Watch said.
The new restrictions undermine US commitments under international human rights law, including obligations to ensure the right to seek asylum.
“These policies will tear families apart, endanger people fleeing persecution, and further damage US credibility on human rights,” Greene said. “The administration should rescind them immediately.”
DR Congo Accord Offers Promises, but Little More
The accord signed today by Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwanda President Paul Kagame at the White House in Washington, DC, is being heralded as a breakthrough for regional cooperation over confrontation.
If implemented with transparency and meaningful participation, it could help stabilize eastern Congo and create the foundations for a durable peace.
But optimism should not be mistaken for results. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly—and incorrectly—claimed that peace has been established in eastern Congo. An initial framework signed in June did nothing to stem atrocities in the region. Human Rights Watch documented a string of massacres by the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group in Rutshuru before the ink was dry: clear evidence that signatures alone do not protect civilians.
While the accord and its economic framework call for some peacekeeping measures, such as the removal of Rwandan troops from Congo, their broad commitments are short on enforceable mechanisms.
Neither this deal nor any other proposed agreements confront a central issue: impunity for abuses drives conflict. Commanders implicated in massacres, forced displacement, and unlawful recruitment still operate freely. Key military and government officials implicated in supporting abusive proxy forces face little scrutiny. Without accountability, new economic or security arrangements will place little restraint on those acting unlawfully.
The European Union and other partners in the region should stay engaged and press both Congo and Rwanda to take essential steps, like bringing to justice those responsible for serious crimes and immediately ending support for abusive armed groups.
There is little reason to believe that the M23, which occupies much of North and South Kivu, will carry out the accord’s economic arrangements. But if the agreement is to bring tangible benefits for local communities, greater investment and mining revenue will be needed to create jobs, strengthen local infrastructure, and improve everyday livelihoods. And that will require confronting demobilization, protection of civilians, ending support for abusive armed groups, and, above all, accountability.
This accord promises opportunities. But unless governments in the region finally choose justice over expediency, it will be just more empty promises on paper.
Georgia: Repressive Laws Effectively Criminalize Peaceful Protests
(Berlin, December 4, 2025) – Georgian authorities have adopted a series of laws that unjustifiably interfere with the right to peaceful assembly and are being used to suppress dissent, Human Rights Watch said today. Combined with abusive policing and steep fines, these measures violate Georgians’ right to peaceful protest, making dissent increasingly risky and leaving critics vulnerable to punitive measures.
“The Georgian government is systematically dismantling protections for peaceful assembly and free expression,” said Giorgi Gogia, deputy Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “People are being detained or slapped with ruinous fines for exercising their fundamental rights.”
Massive nationwide protests have swept Georgia following the ruling party’s November 2024 decision to abandon Georgia’s EU accession process. Authorities have responded to the protests with police violence, and local rights groups have documented hundreds of detentions on alleged administrative grounds and thousands of fines for alleged violations of protest-related rules. Together, this has created a hostile and punitive environment for peaceful protest.
Since November 2024, the ruling party has rushed multiple legislative amendments through the parliament, essentially criminalizing a wide range of protest-related actions integral to the peaceful exercise of the right to assembly.
December 2024 amendments impose tenfold increases in fines—from 500 to 5,000 Georgian lari (about US$185 to 1,850)—for ordinary protest conduct, including blocking building entrances, painting political graffiti, wearing masks, or possessing laser pointers. The new fine is about twice Georgia’s average monthly income, which stands at 2,212 lari (about $820). These fines reach levels typical of criminal liability, but since they are labeled as administrative offenses, the accused do not benefit from the safeguards of criminal procedure.
The December 2024 amendments also grant police vague preventive arrest and frisking powers, allowing them to “preventively” detain individuals for up to 48 hours if they had previously been implicated in an administrative offense and deemed likely to reoffend. Such broad grounds for detention are not permitted under human rights law and violate the prohibition on arbitrary arrest.
Amendments adopted in February 2025 extend detention for administrative offenses from 15 to 60 days, a change applied almost exclusively to protest-related offenses, such as petty hooliganism, disobeying police orders, or violating assembly rules. They also introduced new offenses, including “verbal insult” of officials, punishable by up to 45 days’ detention, and imposed new restrictions by subjecting spontaneous assemblies to notification requirements and requiring prior written consent for indoor gatherings.
In July, the parliament adopted further coercive measures, introducing automatic 30-60-day detention for anyone with unpaid prior fines who committed even a minor assembly-related offense.
October legislative amendments elevated repeated minor conduct—such as wearing a mask, blocking a roadway, installing temporary structures, or participating in a police-terminated protest—to felonies, punishable by up to two years in prison, and up to four years for those deemed organizers.
Together, these laws transform routine protest activity into conduct punishable by criminal-level sanctions, reduce clarity about what conduct is legal and therefore the ability of people to regulate their behavior accordingly, and vastly expand police discretion to interfere with public gatherings, Human Rights Watch said, violating Georgia’s obligations under international human rights law.
Georgian authorities have enforced the new restrictions through arbitrary detentions and abusive administrative proceedings, often imposing sanctions equivalent to criminal penalties. Police have detained protesters for wearing masks, briefly stepping onto the road, or allegedly blocking traffic.
Interviews with defense lawyers indicate that convictions that often lack sufficient evidence to establish criminal wrongdoing frequently rely on video surveillance footage, including through the reported use of facial recognition technology, to identify protesters.
Lawyers handling dozens of such cases told Human Rights Watch that officers who claim to identify protesters from surveillance footage are never questioned in court, and judges routinely ignore the heightened procedural safeguards required when detention is at stake.
The financial penalties imposed under the new laws have been punitive and disproportionate. In one such case, courts fined Gota Chanturia, 36, a teacher and education researcher, a total of 365,000 lari (about $135,200) for 73 alleged instances of “road-blocking.” According to Chanturia’s lawyer, police presented short surveillance footage showing Chanturia peacefully standing on the roadway near the parliament. Chanturia’s 60-year-old father has accumulated around 70 similar fines, including in situations where the roadway had already been closed by police. The lawyer said that the courts in both cases offered no justification for upholding such extreme penalties and instead simply confirmed fines issued by the Interior Ministry without assessing their proportionality.
Lawyers representing dozens of protest-related cases described the same pattern: sanctions imposed without meaningful evidence review and without assessing whether fines—often equivalent to years of income—are proportionate.
Human Rights Watch also spoke with other protesters who have faced repeated detentions and large fines. For instance, philologist Rusudan Kobakhidze, 61, who was already serving time in detention for alleged administrative offenses, also had three other 5,000-lari (about $1,185) fines imposed, despite a monthly income far below the cost of a single penalty.
The combination of open intimidation along with arbitrary arrests and overwhelming fines has created a pervasive climate of fear around participation in peaceful assemblies, Human Rights Watch said.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs publishes only limited statistical data, making it impossible to determine the full scope of protest-related penalties. Even so, available figures are alarming. In 2024 and the first nine months of 2025, authorities sanctioned 4,444 people for petty hooliganism and 6,725 for disobeying police orders—charges often used against protesters—and imposed detention in 6,504 cases.
As a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, Georgia is obligated to protect the rights to freedom of expression and to peaceful assembly, and any restrictions must not only be for a lawful purpose and have a proper legal basis, but must also comply with the requirements of necessity and proportionality. These safeguards are intended to ensure, amongst other things, that people can participate in public life without fear of abusive policing, arbitrary arrest, or disproportionate sanctions.
The convention also requires Georgia to apply criminal due process safeguards to any offense that in substance attracts criminal liability, even if authorities label it as administrative under domestic law. This means examining the nature of the offense, including if it is directed at the public in general, and the severity of the potential penalty. This standard ensures that authorities cannot evade their obligations to uphold due process by mischaracterizing offenses, and helps identify when governments are effectively criminalizing behavior that does not substantially rise to that level and may instead be seeking to suppress legitimate activity.
Prominent international bodies have warned that Georgia’s recent legislative changes fall far short of these standards. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission found that the December 2024 amendments significantly undermine freedom of assembly, noting that vague provisions and harsh penalties risk creating a “chilling effect” on participation. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, in urgent opinions issued in March and November 2025, criticized the expanded detention powers and disproportionate sanctions, cautioning that the new measures could be used to silence or punish peaceful protesters and civil society activists for legitimate public engagement.
“Over the past year, the Georgian government’s response to mass public protests has been a coordinated drive to suppress criticism and keep people off the streets,” Gogia said. “Georgia’s international partners should press the authorities to urgently reverse this repressive course and restore space for peaceful assembly.”
World Cup 2026: FIFA Needs to Act on Human Rights
(Washington, DC) – FIFA, the international soccer governing body, needs to match its lofty rhetoric on rights with concrete action, a coalition of human rights organizations, trade unions, and fans groups said today. FIFA is holding its World Cup draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2025, and awarding its first “FIFA Peace Prize.”
The Sport & Rights Alliance, Dignity 2026, ACLU, AFL-CIO, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Independent Supporters Council, NAACP, Athlete Ally, and Reporters Without Borders have come together to press FIFA to deliver a World Cup that respects the rights of fans, players, workers, journalists, and local communities.
The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, represents an opportunity to implement a new model for FIFA events—one that supports strong workers’ protections, safeguards children’s rights, upholds media freedom, and ensures that working people and communities benefit from hosting this mega-sporting event, the groups said.
“Workers, athletes, fans, and communities make the World Cup possible,” said Andrea Florence, executive director of the Sport & Rights Alliance. “The 2026 World Cup is the first to begin with human rights criteria embedded in the bidding process. But the deteriorating human rights situation in the United States has put those commitments at risk.”
With 200 days until kickoff, the escalating attacks on immigrants in the United States, FIFA’s cancellation of anti-discrimination messaging, and threats to press freedom and the rights of peaceful protesters signal a tournament heading in the wrong direction, the human rights and labor groups said.
There has been no transparency around FIFA’s peace prize process. Human Rights Watch has written to FIFA to request a list of the nominees, the judges, the criteria, and the process for the peace prize. Human Rights Watch received no response.
“FIFA’s so-called peace prize is being awarded against a backdrop of violent detentions of immigrants, national guard deployments in US cities, and the obsequious cancellation of FIFA’s own anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns,” said Minky Worden, who oversees sport for Human Rights Watch. “There is still time to honor FIFA’s promises for a World Cup not tainted by human rights abuses, but the clock is ticking.”
The following are areas of concern spotlighted by experts from the civil society groups:
Workers’ Rights
“The men’s 2026 FIFA World Cup is an opportunity to implement a new model for FIFA events that supports strong worker rights protections and ensures that working people and communities benefit from hosting this kind of mega-sporting events,” said Cathy Feingold, International Director at the AFL-CIO, and ITUC Deputy President. “Workers make the World Cup possible from working in the stadiums, preparing the infrastructure and playing in the matches to providing the entertainment. Given the work they do, FIFA must uphold its commitments that the games will be played with the effective implementation of worker and human rights.”
Media Freedom
“Every four years, billions of people turn their attention to the World Cup and its host countries,” said Clayton Weimers, executive director, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) USA. “They rely on journalists to deliver reliable information with appropriate context to tell the story of this tournament both on and off the field. Unfortunately, journalists in the US are seeing their access restricted, their visas threatened, and their safety put into question. FIFA and the host governments must guarantee the freedom and safety of journalists before, during, and after the 2026 World Cup.”
Immigration and Law Enforcement
“Attending a soccer match should never result in arbitrary detention or deportation,” said Daniel Noroña, Americas Advocacy Director, Amnesty International USA. “The threat of excessive policing, including immigration enforcement, at World Cup venues are deeply troubling, and FIFA cannot be silent. FIFA must obtain binding guarantees from U.S. authorities that the tournament will be a safe space for all, regardless of political stance, opinion or immigration status.”
Civil Rights and Anti-Discrimination
“FIFA’s decision to cancel anti-racism and anti-discrimination messaging at the Club World Cup sent a chilling signal to communities of color and all who have fought for equality in sport,” said Jamal Watkins, senior vice president of strategy and advancement, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). “At a time when hate crimes are rising and DEI programs are under attack, FIFA should not be retreating.”
Athletes’ Rights and LGBTQ+ Safety
“As an out athlete, I know what it means to compete in environments where you’re not sure you’ll be safe,” said Matthew Pacifici, former men’s professional player in the US and Athlete Ally ambassador. “LGBTQ+ players and fans need more than symbolic gestures—we need enforceable protections. The homophobic chants at the Club World Cup in Atlanta show exactly why FIFA’s retreat from anti-discrimination messaging is so dangerous. Players and fans must know that FIFA will protect them, not abandon them.”
Supporters’ Voice and Fan Safety
“Supporters are the backbone of this sport, yet FIFA keeps making decisions about our safety without ever talking to the people who actually show up,” said Bailey Brown, president, Independent Supporters Council. “You cannot claim to ‘unite the world’ while shutting out the very fans who bring the energy and passion to every match. We’re asking for something simple: transparency, real consultation, and concrete protections for every supporter at the 2026 World Cup.”
Safeguarding Children
“It is unacceptable that FIFA has no child safeguarding policy for the 2026 World Cup,” said Katherine La Puente, children’s rights coordinator at Human Rights Watch. “Risks children can face in the context of major sporting events include trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labor, and family displacements, among other forms of violence and abuse.”
Host City Residents, Communities
“For the World Cup to truly ‘unite the world,’ both FIFA and host committees need to ensure that the rights and dignity of everyone, whether residents or visitors, are protected and not exploited,” said Jennifer Li, coordinator of Dignity 2026 and director of the Center for Community Health Innovation at Georgetown Law. “For example, people who are unsheltered should not be criminalized for their status or displaced as part of so-called beautification efforts. FIFA and host cities have a responsibility to ensure that hosting communities benefit from this event, and that the most vulnerable residents do not bear the greatest costs.”
Host City Plans
As part of FIFA’s human rights framework for the 2026 World Cup, each of the 16 host cities is required to develop its own “human rights action plan” to prevent discrimination, support workers’ rights, protect children, and combat human trafficking.
Human Rights Watch, along with the Sport & Rights Alliance, Dignity 2026, and their member organizations, are calling on FIFA and host committees to:
Reinstate anti-discrimination messaging;Commit to ensuring effective protections against racial profiling, arbitrary detention, and unlawful immigration enforcement during the tournament;Work closely with community partners on finalizing the Human Rights Action Plans;Take effective steps to ensure respect for the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest;Announce and implement a comprehensive Child Safeguarding Policy;Ensure meaningful community benefit from the 2026 World Cup; andTake effective steps to ensure that the 2026 World Cup does not lead to abuses of vulnerable communities, including the jailing of unhoused populations.X’s Location Disclosure Undermines User Safety
Since November 21, social media company X has been rolling out a new feature called “About this account,” which displays information about users that was previously not publicly disclosed. This includes the country where an account was created, is based, the date it joined X, and username changes.
The company says the feature is intended to verify authenticity and improve transparency, but it raises serious concerns about user privacy and safety. It exposes location information without meaningful user consent and lacks adequate human rights safeguards.
While the country display is the default setting on the feature, users can instead display a region “for those in countries where speech has penalties”. There appears to be no option for a user to hide their location entirely. It is not clear if the feature has been rolled out for users worldwide.
X is also developing a feature that warns if a user is connected through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and flags their country or region “may not be accurate.”
These changes risk compromising anonymity for those whose safety depends on it. Online anonymity is fundamental for free speech and privacy. Combined with the growing threat of transnational repression, unmasking users’ locations and the proposed VPN detection could exacerbate safety risks for journalists, activists, and members of vulnerable communities who have fled their countries.
While X said the feature was meant to enhance transparency, reported inaccuracies in displayed location data, coupled with lack of information about the criteria used to determine these details, undermine its value. X noted that incorrect data will be “updated periodically based on best available information”.
Efforts to improve information integrity and enhance transparency should not expose individuals to harm, especially those who rely on anonymity for security.
X has not publicly stated whether it conducted a human rights impact assessment before introducing the feature, nor updated its privacy policy or informed users that their location data would be shared publicly. International human rights standards require companies to identify and mitigate human rights risks throughout the entire range of their business activities.
X should turn off the location feature or ensure users can opt-out and carry out human rights due diligence to avoid introducing features that threaten user safety.
Mexico City: New Era for People with Disabilities and Older Persons
(Mexico City) – Mexico City’s landmark Civil Code reform on legal capacity should be carried out in a way that fully respects everyone’s autonomy and equality, including people with disabilities and older people, Human Rights Watch and the College of Notaries of Mexico City said today. Their jointly issued publication, Roadmap for Change: The Path Toward Implementing the Legal Capacity Reform in Mexico City, is a practical guide to carrying out the reform.
The reform, which took effect in December 2024, recognizes that all adults have full legal capacity—the right to make decisions about their own lives—regardless of disability, age, or health status. It prohibits any restriction of this right based on placing the person under any protected status, to ensure that anyone may choose to receive support in exercising their rights if they wish, but can never be forced to do so.
Roberto Garzón, president of the College of Notaries of Mexico City, emphasized the importance of notaries’ leadership in making this reform a reality:
“The notary profession plays a vital role in making the principles of autonomy, equality, and dignity a lived reality for everyone,” Garzón said. “Through our daily practice, we can help ensure that no one is excluded from exercising their rights simply because they communicate, think, or make decisions differently.”
“This reform marks a historic step for human rights in Mexico City,” said Carlos Ríos Espinosa, associate disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. “It moves the city away from outdated systems that deprived people of control over their lives and toward a model that recognizes everyone’s right to make their own choices, with support when needed.”
The guide was developed jointly by Human Rights Watch and the College of Notaries of Mexico City, to provide clear explanations and case studies illustrating how the reform can be applied in everyday practice. It includes examples of good practices for communicating effectively with people who may need support to make decisions, along with practical templates for designating people to provide that support.
The cases in the roadmap are hypothetical, but are based on real and recurring situations that notaries encounter across Mexico City. They reflect common consultations, concerns, and legal acts typically handled in notary offices, illustrating how the new legal framework can be used to respect the will and preferences of each individual.
The examples include:
A man with West syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, who designates types of support to help him accept an inheritance from his mother and make informed decisions about investing the proceeds. The case demonstrates how notaries can facilitate accessible communication and ensure that the person’s will and preferences guide every step of the process.A 70-year-old woman, who makes an advance designation of types of support to ensure that, in the future, she can receive assistance in making decisions about managing her assets, planning investments, and her daily life. This example highlights how advance designation can safeguard autonomy while allowing people to plan for possible changing circumstances such as illness or disability.A young woman on the autism spectrum who designates types of support to help her carry out administrative procedures with public institutions. The case shows how the law enables people to choose the type of assistance they need to navigate bureaucratic systems without relinquishing their right to make their own decisions.The roadmap emphasizes that the right to legal capacity is guaranteed under international human rights law, including Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which Mexico ratified in 2007. It offers concrete recommendations to ensure that notaries and public institutions respect the will and preferences of individuals while establishing safeguards to prevent abuse or conflicts of interest.
“This reform has the potential to transform lives,” Ríos Espinosa said. “But laws alone are not enough. Implementation will require training, awareness, and a change in attitudes to ensure that people with disabilities and older people can make decisions about their own lives—where to live, how to manage their finances, what medical treatments to accept—just like everyone else.”
Human Rights Watch and the College of Notaries urged Mexico City authorities to ensure that notaries, judges, and social service providers receive continuing training on the new legal framework. They also emphasized the need for clear regulatory guidelines and accessible materials to support effective implementation, and urged other state governments to adopt and replicate this model in their own jurisdictions.
The Mexico City reform and the Roadmap for Change mark a decisive step away from substituted decision-making, such as guardianship, toward genuine support for exercising legal capacity. Together, Human Rights Watch and the College of Notaries reaffirm their shared commitment to promoting a legal culture that places autonomy and equality at the heart of justice.
“This represents not only a legal change, but a profound cultural shift,” Garzon said. “It reaffirms that all people, including those historically marginalized, have the right to make decisions about their own lives. The College of Notaries of Mexico City is proud to contribute to support this transformation by promoting professional practices that respect the will and preferences of every individual.”
France: Macron Should Address Repression in China Visit
(Paris) – French President Emmanuel Macron should privately and publicly stress the importance of human rights in Sino-French relations during his visit to China from December 3 to 5, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. Macron’s visit is one of several top-level engagements between European and Chinese leaders amid the complex and shifting geopolitical relationships among Europe, China, and the United States.
President Macron should signal his commitment to taking concrete action in response to deepening repression by China. Key issues include labor rights abuses in China’s supply chains; commercial drones produced by China-based companies being used by Russia to attack civilians in Ukraine; and China’s use of transnational repression to target critics abroad, including in France.
“China’s disregard for human rights has important implications for France, from weapons used in unlawful Russian attacks in Ukraine to abusive supply chains that hinders fair competition for European industries,” said Bénédicte Jeannerod, France director at Human Rights Watch. “Macron should break the silos between human rights and other issues and show leadership by including rights concerns in high-level policy discussions with China.”
Efforts by France and other EU countries to address serious human rights violations in China have been hindered by a willingness to distinguish them from other economic and political aspects of the relationship, Human Rights Watch said. Macron should acknowledge their interconnection and demonstrate leadership by including human rights in its broader policy discussions with China.
The opening of the Chinese company Shein’s first physical store in Paris has raised various concerns, including a company business model that allegedly relies on labor abuses and deceptive commercial practices that include sourcing from state-imposed forced labor in Xinjiang.
Media and nongovernmental organizations have reported that Shein workers in China toil for excessive hours for very little pay. Shein has said it is committed to supporting suppliers to create working conditions that meet international standards for health and safety, labor, and social welfare.
Human rights groups have also documented the use of Chinese state-imposed forced labor involving Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim communities in China’s cotton, automotive, solar, and critical mineral supply chains. The United Nations, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations have for several years reported on crimes against humanity by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang. a predominantly Muslim Uyghur region.
The European Union’s Forced Labor Regulation, once fully implemented in December 2027, will provide an important tool to block products made with forced labor from the EU market, including those from China. The risk of human rights abuses in supply chains also underscores the need to preserve the EU’s corporate sustainability legislation, which the EU, with the support of the French government, is currently seeking to water down.
Macron has pushed for the EU to use its “trade bazooka” law, the Anti-Coercion Instrument, to address China’s coercive trade practices. But he should reiterate that China’s full compliance with international conventions recently ratified by China—International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 29 on forced labor and ILO Convention No. 105 on state-imposed forced labor—are critical for strengthening ties between the two countries.
Human Rights Watch in June documented Russia’s use of commercial drones produced by China-based companies to attack civilians in Kherson, Ukraine. Macron should press the Chinese government to ensure that these drone companies prevent sales to sanctioned entities and cooperate with investigations into unlawful attacks on civilians in Ukraine.
China has also increasingly carried out cross-border abuses—known as transnational repression—to oppress critics of the government abroad and impose ideological control, including in France.
In a recent case, Chinese authorities in July arrested Tara Zhang Yadi, a Chinese student who had been studying in France, upon her return to China. She faces up to 5 years in prison, or up to 15 if found to be a ringleader, under charges of “inciting others to split the country and undermine national unity,” because she advocated for Tibetan rights while in France. This arrest comes amid broader Chinese government efforts to demand that foreign institutions, including museums in France, refer to Tibet as Xizang, a Mandarin name for the region.
“Millions of people in China, France, and the EU continue to bear the weight of Beijing’s repression and abuses,” Jeannerod said. “Macron should stop trying to justify France’s silence on rights and make clear that the Chinese government’s repression affects many core French and EU interests, and that China needs to reverse course to maintain strong relations.”
Solidarity on Trial in Greece
Two dozen humanitarian workers face trial on the Greek island of Lesbos this week on baseless felony charges that carry 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have hounded the humanitarians for seven years for saving lives at sea, while the European Parliament has called this “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.”
In 2015, up to 10,000 asylum seekers and migrants were making the perilous sea crossing from Turkey to Lesbos per week. At least 805 people, including 271 children, died or disappeared in the Aegean Sea that year. Emergency Rescue Center International (ERCI), a small nonprofit, started search and rescue operations to support overwhelmed local authorities.
But in 2018, two of ERCI’s foreign volunteers were jailed for 107 days based on a flawed police report depicting rescue work as smuggling and espionage, despite a Hellenic Coast Guard official’s statement to the police that the group had regularly notified him when migrants’ boats were coming. Two Greeks were also later placed in pretrial detention. Human Rights Watch found the charges perversely misrepresent ERCI as a crime ring.
Instead of dropping the case, Greek prosecutors charged 24 people and blundered past basic due process requirements. Some defendants were reportedly never served. Other indictments were missing pages and written in Greek, which some foreign defendants did not understand.
In 2021, the prosecution filed misdemeanor charges against all the defendants but in the wrong court. One of the foreign volunteers jailed in 2018 was barred from re-entering Greece for her own trial. When the misdemeanor case was finally heard, it collapsed and all charges were dismissed.
The prosecution is now pursuing three felony charges. But after a years-long investigation found no new evidence, the case depends on deeply-flawed logic: saving lives at sea is mischaracterized as migrant smuggling (felony 1), so the search-and-rescue group is a criminal organization (felony 2), and therefore, the group’s legitimate fundraising is money laundering (felony 3).
The case is an acute example of a disturbing trend in Europe of criminalizing solidarity with people on the move. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders noted that rights defenders and humanitarian workers in Greece face the misuse of criminal law against them to a “shocking degree.”
An acquittal of the defendants will be the only just end to a perverse prosecution that should never have started.
US: ICE Arrest at FIFA Event Spotlights Dangers for World Cup
(New York) – The arrest and return of an asylum seeker who took his children to the Club World Cup soccer tournament final on July 13, 2025, raises serious concerns about the safety of noncitizens attending the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today.
In May, Human Rights Watch wrote to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the World Cup organizer, to express concerns about the risks and impact of US immigration policies on the 2026 World Cup and the 2025 US Club World Cup, recommending “immediate action” to address US policies that create risk and threaten FIFA’s ability to uphold its stated values of human rights, inclusion, and global participation.
FIFA responded on June 3, stating that it “expects … host countries take measures to ensure that any eligible persons who are involved in the Competition are able to enter the respective countries,” and “is actively working on this matter with relevant authorities.” FIFA also said it would engage with relevant authorities if it becomes aware of human rights concerns.
But the incident at the Club World Cup final, uncovered by Human Rights Watch, illustrates the limitations of FIFA’s efforts to address the serious human rights risks noncitizens face at FIFA events.
“A father who loves soccer planned a special day with his children at a FIFA tournament, ended up detained for three months, and was then sent to a country where he said his life is at risk,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “Under the Trump administration’s policies, immigration enforcement at major sporting events can tear families apart and could expose people fleeing persecution to life-threatening danger.”
The man, whose name and country of origin are being withheld at his request, was detained in New Jersey before the Club World Cup tournament final between Chelsea (England) and Paris Saint-Germain (France). He was in the American Dream Mall parking lot near MetLife Stadium with two of his children, ages 10 and 14, waiting for the match to begin.
The man and his family members told Human Rights Watch that police questioned and then detained him after he attempted to fly a small drone to take a photograph of his family. When the drone malfunctioned, he put the drone back in his car and was detained as he was doing so.
A local ordinance prohibits the use of drones on or over the MetLife Complex, implementing a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directive against flying drones in and around stadiums during sporting events. Unintentionally violating the FAA prohibition is a civil offense and usually only results in a fine, according to an aviation lawyer consulted by Human Rights Watch.
The man said that the officer who questioned him initially told him they would issue him a citation and release him quickly. Instead, law enforcement officers asked about his immigration status and then handed him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. ICE agents detained the man the same day and moved to deport him.
Interviewed in the detention facility, he told Human Rights Watch that his last memory of the day of his arrest was “seeing my kids cry because I was captured.” His children thought their father would be released to attend the match. But when one child checked his phone, he saw his father’s location was 40 minutes away, the man’s wife told Human Rights Watch.
People facing deportation have the right to ask for asylum. The family said they fled their country of origin in 2022 after armed groups threatened to kill them.
But the administration of President Donald Trump does not ordinarily allow release from immigration detention, even if asylum seekers can post bond, a sum of money to guarantee that they will continue to appear for deportation hearings.
After three months in immigration detention, the man decided not to appeal when the immigration judge denied his asylum claim. He told Human Rights Watch the prospect of being locked up longer left him in despair. “It’s so psychological what they do to you there.… You want to get out so badly.”
The Trump administration has frequently stated that immigration enforcement targets “the worst of the worst.” But research by Human Rights Watch and other groups has shown that people swept up in raids or apprehended in more targeted operations often have no criminal history.
Ahead of the Club World Cup kickoff, and in response to whether he had any concerns about ICE agents at the games, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “I don’t have any concerns … we want everyone who comes to the games to pass a good moment…. I’m sure this will be a great, great celebration.”
Especially in light of the Trump administration’s abusive immigration dragnet, state and local law enforcement agencies that do not have arrangements with ICE to conduct immigration enforcement should generally not ask about immigration status or hold people for ICE to investigate their status, Human Rights Watch said. Agencies that do have such arrangements, known as 287(g) agreements, should take note of their inherent abuses and abandon them. ICE should avoid detaining asylum seekers to the maximum extent permitted by law.
FIFA should call on US authorities not to target World Cup events for immigration enforcement, including through 287(g) arrangements, Human Rights Watch said.
“The 2026 World Cup should be a celebration of soccer, not an immigration enforcement operation that destroys families and puts lives at risk,” Worden said. “This case illuminates the dire contradictions of the US preparing to welcome the world’s largest sporting event while simultaneously implementing policies to separate families and deport asylum seekers.”
For more details, please see below.
Since President Trump took office in January 2025, the US government has taken steps to limit access to legal pathways to seek asylum. Human Rights Watch has documented how US deportation policies have exposed deported immigrants to the risk of death and human rights abuse.
Immigration and other law enforcement authorities have dramatically scaled up the number of arrests and detentions since the beginning of the Trump administration, with large operations in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Washington, DC, and Chicago. Federal immigration officers have targeted Latino communities, carrying out raids and arrests based on people’s perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin.
The 2026 World Cup will take place in 11 US cities and areas, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The World Cup final will take place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the 2025 Club World Cup final took place.
From January 20 to October 15, ICE arrested at least 92,392 people in and around cities where World Cup games will be played, according to government data provided by ICE in response to a freedom of information request to the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by Human Rights Watch. This does not include arrests made by US Customs and Border Protection or other law enforcement agencies. Of all these arrests, 65.1 percent were of immigrants with no US criminal convictions, which closely tracks with nationwide trends.
In New Jersey, 73.8 percent of 5,331 ICE arrests were of noncitizens with no US criminal convictions. ICE raids have occurred in New Jersey, leading to the arrests of large numbers of people at their workplaces, including noncitizens and US citizens.
FIFA World Cup Match LocationICE Arrest Location by Area of Responsibility (AOR)State# of ICE arrests in 2025Percentage of all ICE arrests without US criminal convictionsAtlantaAtlanta AORGeorgia8,00767.6 %BostonBoston AORMassachusetts4,68281.1 %DallasDallas AORTexas10,76466.8 %HoustonHouston AORTexas14,71258.1 %Los AngelesLos Angeles AORCalifornia9,62454.5 %San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco AORCalifornia3,79851.2 %Kansas CityChicago AOR, Detroit AOR, New Orleans AORKansas and Missouri3,30158.3 %MiamiMiami AORFlorida20,55267.9 %New York CityNew York City AORNew York4,97473.8 %East Rutherford, New JerseyNewark AORNew Jersey5,33173.8 %PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia AORPennsylvania4,72768.9 %SeattleSeattle AORWashington1,92063.7 %Total--92,39265.1 %Media reported that some fans who purchased tickets to the Club World Cup sold their tickets for fear of being arrested or detained at stadiums and eventually deported. Staff from Telemundo (a Spanish-language US news outlet), Miami’s mayor, and FIFA officials were at a World Cup boat party in Miami that was canceled when the vessel was boarded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Coast Guard and some attendees were asked to show documentation of their legal status.
According to online posts, DHS officers were present during Club World Cup matches outside Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles, and Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and ICE planned to be present at Lumen Field in Seattle.
The impact of arrests and raids on communities where World Cup games will be hosted has been devastating. In New Jersey, people are afraid of going outside, families have lost breadwinners, and businesses are suffering, according to members of Estamos Unidos. “Nobody feels safe,” one member said. The presence of local police during some of the documented arrests often leads to community members feeling less safe and subsequently less likely to report crime if they fear that any encounter with police could lead to them being turned over to immigration.
Many immigrants, faced with detention and deportation, have opted for “voluntary departure” in part to avoid the legal bars on re-entering the United States that come with being deported. The number of immigrants who have left voluntarily in New York and New Jersey courts from July to October 2025 increased by 1,373 percent compared to the same period last year, according to an analysis by Documented New York, an immigration-focused news outlet. This increase followed a July 8 ICE policy that limited bond eligibility for immigrants in detention.
The man arrested near the World Cup event was detained in Delaney Hall, an immigration detention facility in Newark, where there have been media reports of poor treatment of detainees, lack of food, and unsafe conditions for visitors.
An immigration judge denied the father’s asylum claim in September. The father said that, traumatized by three months of detention and desperate to speak more regularly to his children, he decided not to pursue further legal action, despite his fear of returning to his country of origin. The family had to purchase air tickets for his “voluntary departure.”
Article 4 of FIFA’s Human Rights Policy states that “FIFA will strive to go beyond its responsibility to respect human rights, as enshrined in the UNGPs [UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights], by taking measures to promote the protection of human rights and positively contribute to their enjoyment, especially where it is able to apply effective leverage to help increase said enjoyment or where this relates to strengthening human rights in or through football.”
Malawian Disability Rights Advocate Honored
(New York) – Hilda Macheso, a Malawian disability rights advocate, is the 2025/2026 recipient of the Human Rights Watch Marca Bristo Fellowship for Courageous Leadership in Disability Rights, Human Rights Watch announced today on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
Click to expand Image Hilda Macheso presenting at the 10th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Yerevan, Armenia, September 2024. © PrivateMacheso is an emerging advocate for the rights of young people with disabilities in Malawi. She has played a key role in strengthening national and regional disability rights movements through her work with the Association of Persons with Albinism in Malawi (APAM), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Youth Parliament, the EU Malawi Youth Sounding Board, and the University of Malawi’s Disability Rights Clinic.
“We are absolutely thrilled about Hilda’s selection,” said Elizabeth Kamundia, disability rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Her leadership advancing the rights of people with albinism in Malawi is both courageous and urgently needed. Hilda brings insight, compassion, and determination to her work, and her advocacy is a beacon of hope for people with disabilities facing discrimination and stigma across the region.”
Over the past several years, Macheso has contributed significantly to disability advocacy efforts in Malawi, including leading awareness campaigns, coordinating International Albinism Awareness Day events, and supporting youth-focused policy engagement through the EU Malawi Youth Sounding Board. She has also influenced disability rights policy at the regional level through her work with the 3rd SADC Youth Parliament, where she wrote and presented a regional report on youth with disabilities that informed parliamentary resolutions across Southern Africa.
Macheso brings a creative approach to rights-based community engagement. While at the University of Malawi’s Disability Rights Clinic, she helped replace traditional presentations with interactive theater activities that encouraged dialogue and reflection. By using storytelling, role playing, and performance, she has created safe spaces for communities to talk openly about disability, confront harmful stereotypes, and promote more inclusive attitudes.
She has also been a crucial partner to the Human Rights Watch ongoing research in Malawi documenting employment discrimination and economic disenfranchisement of people with albinism. As a translator and research assistant, she helped conduct interviews, facilitated coordination with local communities, and ensured respectful, accurate engagement with people with albinism who had experienced discrimination.
“I want people with albinism to be seen, valued, and included,” Macheso said. “We have rights, we have dreams, and we deserve real opportunities to learn, to work, and to live with dignity. This fellowship is a chance for me to grow as an advocate and bring stronger visibility and justice to my community.”
Macheso’s activism comes at a time when the rights of people with albinism face ongoing challenges in parts of Africa. People with albinism experience violence linked to harmful myths and superstitions, as well as entrenched discrimination in education, access to health care, and employment. These systemic barriers often leave people with albinism facing social and economic marginalization, struggling to stay in school, secure decent work, and participate fully in community life.
Macheso was selected from a competitive pool of candidates nominated by Human Rights Watch staff for their disability rights leadership. As part of her fellowship, Macheso will receive training in research, advocacy, communications, and fundraising from Human Rights Watch colleagues. The fellowship further provides opportunities to strengthen her networks with other organizations and advocates.
Human Rights Watch established the fellowship to honor the disability rights icon Marca Bristo, founder of Access Living and inaugural chair of the Human Rights Watch disability rights advisory committee. Bristo was a key advocate for the adoption of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and helped shape the Human Rights Watch disability rights strategy. She encouraged Human Rights Watch to actively involve people with disabilities in its work and to invest in the development of emerging disability rights activists.
Previous Marca Bristo fellows have continued to promote disability rights with added skills to do their work more effectively. The 2024/2025 fellow Benon Kabale and the 2023/2024 fellow Mariana Lozano briefed states parties to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities about promoting autonomy for people with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities.
In March 2024, the 2022/2023 fellow Benafsha Yaqoobi received the International Women of Courage Award from the US Department of State for her extraordinary achievements advocating for the rights of women with disabilities in Afghanistan. As part of the 2021/2022 fellowship, Bryan Russell, a Peruvian activist for political rights, helped raise awareness in countries such as Mexico about the need for greater political representation of people with intellectual disabilities.
Hauwa Ojeifo, Marca Bristo inaugural fellow in 2020 and founder of She Writes Woman, a movement that gives mental health a voice in Nigeria, received funding from Melinda French Gates to advance the health and wellbeing of women based on her achievements.
“Hilda represents exactly the kind of bold, community-rooted leadership the Marca Bristo Fellowship was created to support,” said Daisy Feidt, executive vice president of Access Living. “Her advocacy for people with albinism in Malawi is both powerful and necessary, and her voice will be an important addition to global disability rights movement. We are thrilled to welcome her as the next Marca Bristo Fellow.”
Cameroon: Prominent Opposition Leader Dies in Custody
(Nairobi) – The death in custody of a prominent Cameroon opposition leader, Anicet Ekane, should be impartially, promptly, and effectively investigated, Human Rights Watch said today.
Ekane, 74, the leader of the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy (Mouvement africain pour la nouvelle indépendance et la démocratie, MANIDEM) party, died on December 1, 2025, at the State Defense Secretariat (Secrétariat d’État à la Défense, SED), a detention facility in the capital, Yaoundé. He was detained on October 24 on security charges in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election that confirmed incumbent president Paul Biya, 92, for an eighth term, sparking nationwide protests. Security forces responded to protests with use of excessive force and mass arrests of opposition members and protesters. Many of those arrested, like Ekane, were charged with trumped up security charges when, in reality, they were arrested for their criticism of the election.
“The death in custody of someone who had been detained for his political views raises serious concerns over respect for the rule of law, due process, and detainee rights in Cameroon,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Ekane’s death may be an example of a broader systemic failure to protect the lives and dignity of people deprived of liberty in Cameroon.”
Ekane’s relatives and lawyers said that prior to the arrest, Ekane suffered severe respiratory distress, and that his health deteriorated rapidly while in detention. They said that despite repeated requests, he was denied proper medical care.
Cameroon’s authorities bear responsibility for Ekane’s death, as he was in their care when it occurred, and they have obligations to determine the cause of death, establish any liability, hold those responsible to account, and take steps to prevent any further detainee deaths, Human Rights Watch said. If his cause of death is linked to negligence or deliberately inflicted conditions including denial of medical care, those responsible need to be held accountable. Hundreds of other critics in jail across the country face circumstances and detention conditions similar to Ekane’s at the time of his death.
Ekane was arrested in Douala, Littoral region, and transferred to SED, a detention facility in Yaoundé where Human Rights Watch has documented routine use of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment. Authorities had charged Ekane with “insurrection” and “incitement to rebellion,” among others, accusations that his party said were politically motivated and linked to Ekane’s outspoken support for an opposition candidate, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, and rejection of the official results of the vote. His lawyers said Ekane was never taken before a judge, and his detention was arbitrary.
“He struggled breathing and was in a critical condition,” said Hippolyte Meli, Ekane’s legal counsel. “We had alerted the prison authorities, but he was neither transferred to a civilian hospital nor given necessary treatment, and his oxygen concentrator [which helped him breath] was confiscated at the time of his arrest.”
In a December 1 news release, Cameroon’s government spokesperson, René Emmanuel Sadi, said Ekane died “following an illness” and had received proper medical attention. On the same day, the head of the communication division of the Ministry of Defense, Captain Cyrille Serge Atonfack Guemo, said that an investigation had been opened to establish the circumstances of Ekane’s death.
On December 1, SED authorities took Ekane’s body to the morgue of the Yaoundé central hospital and informed Ekane’s family and lawyers that an autopsy was to be carried out on December 2. But Ekane’s lawyers formally requested the suspension of the autopsy because the two state-appointed forensic doctors designated to perform the autopsy were selected without the family’s consent, and the family was not consulted or permitted to have their own expert present.
Ekane’s death comes amid ongoing tensions over the post-electoral government crackdown. On October 26, the day before the Cameroonian Constitutional Council announced the election results, opposition-led protests broke out across the country. Police and gendarmes responded with tear gas and live ammunition to disperse crowds. International media citing United Nations sources said security forces killed 48 people during the protests. Opposition sources who spoke to Human Rights Watch put the death toll at 55.
The authorities have also detained hundreds of people, including minors, on various charges such as “hostility against the homeland,” “revolution,” and “rebellion,” offenses that lawyers say have been applied indiscriminately and are unrelated to the actual acts of protest.
Ekane’s death adds to a long record of deaths in custody in Cameroon, a pattern marked by torture, denial of medical care, and pervasive impunity, extensively documented by Human Rights Watch and other human rights groups.
In another example, on January 17, police arrested and detained 36-year-old Abdoul Wahabou Ndandjouma in N’Gaoundéré, in northern Cameroon. The next day, authorities notified his family that he had died. Ndandjouma reportedly suffered severe mistreatment during interrogation. His co-detainee reported hearing his “screams of pain” from an adjacent room.
The UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions provide that there shall be “thorough, prompt and impartial investigation[s]" of all suspected cases of death in custody. The inquiry shall "determine the cause, manner and time of death, the person responsible, and any pattern or practice which may have brought about that death. It shall include an adequate autopsy, collection and analysis of all physical and documentary evidence and statements from witnesses." The detailed methods and findings of the investigation are to be made public, and the government should ensure that anyone identified by the investigation as having participated in an unlawful killing are brought to justice.
“To ensure that the promised investigation is independent and impartial, authorities should seek the support of international human rights experts within the United Nations or African Union,” Allegrozzi said. “The government should also ensure that all political detainees receive timely, adequate health care and full legal protections, and release all those unjustly detained.”
Vietnam Should End Abuse of Imprisoned Critic
Since October 31, Trinh Ba Tu, a Vietnamese political prisoner, has been held alone in a dark cell, denied visitors and even any kind of light. Guards open the door briefly twice a day to deliver meals, the only human contact he is permitted.
Why such severe punishment? A few days earlier, Trinh Ba Tu had complained about the moldy, spoiled rice he and other prisoners were given to eat.
And in September, he and fellow political prisoners reportedly carried out a hunger strike to demand the “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and detained activists in Vietnam” and to “urge the State of Vietnam to uphold human rights fully and comprehensively and pave the way for the democratization of the nation.”
The ruling Communist Party of Vietnam maintains a monopoly on political power and allows no challenge to its leadership. The government currently holds at least 160 political prisoners, people imprisoned, typically for years, because they have expressed their criticism of the government and its policies.
Trinh Ba Tu, 36, is serving an eight-year sentence at Prison No. 6 in Vietnam’s Nghe An province because he criticized the Communist Party. It’s a family tradition. His mother, Can Thi Theu, is serving an eight-year sentence at Prison No. 5 in Thanh Hoa province. His older brother, Trinh Ba Phuong, is serving 10 years, and appealing a newly imposed additional 11-year sentence.
The family has long engaged in protests and campaigns for human rights, land rights, and environmental protection, among other issues. The authorities have charged all of them “with conducting propaganda against the state” under article 117 of Vietnam’s penal code, a law the authorities have routinely used to crush dissent.
Vietnam’s international trade partners and donors have been so focused on the country’s booming economy that they have said little about systemic abuses of human rights. They should press the Vietnamese authorities to immediately release Trinh Ba Tu and conduct a proper investigation into prison conditions to insure they meet international standards for food, water, and medical care.
US: Immigration Policy Undermines Public Safety
(Washington, DC) – The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics undercutting protection for undocumented crime survivors weakens law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 50-page report, “‘We Need U’: How the U Visa Builds Trust, Counters Fear, and Promotes Community Safety,” finds that the administration’s deportation policies undermine federal visa programs that provide a pathway for crime victims to obtain legal residency when they cooperate with law enforcement. Changed enforcement guidance, such as allowing Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to apprehend people in previously safe places like courthouses and health centers, is a strong deterrent for immigrants who might otherwise report crime to police or seek a protective order.
“Despite strong rhetoric about cracking down on crime, the Trump administration’s enforcement actions and policies are benefiting abusers, making it less likely that they will be apprehended and prosecuted,” said Sara Darehshori, consultant to Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “If the administration is serious about combatting crime, it will expand and improve visa programs that allow victims to come forward without fear of deportation.”
Congress created the U visa in 2000 to help combat gender-based violence, recognizing that undocumented women and children are especially vulnerable to abuse and unlikely to report crimes because they fear deportation. Under the U visa program, survivors of rape, domestic violence, trafficking, and 25 other enumerated crimes have a pathway to legal residency if they cooperate with law enforcement or another certifying agency, have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse, and are otherwise admissible to the United States.
The program is designed to ensure that abusers cannot weaponize the threat of deportation to prevent victims from going to police and to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute crime.
Researchers conducted 43 interviews between May and October 2025 with law enforcement officials, immigration lawyers, advocates, and crime victims from around the country to better understand the impact of the program.
In one example, a woman’s boyfriend brutally beat her in June 2023. He punched her, cut her hand and face with a knife, hit her with a bottle, and choked her to the point of unconsciousness. He threatened to kill her, saying that she would end up in a “body bag.” She was transported to a hospital emergency room, where she was treated for severe lacerations and a fractured shoulder. While there, she worked up the courage to report the abuse to the New York Police Department, a decision she believes saved her life. She is now awaiting her U visa.
“Abusers regularly use threats of deportation and separation from children to prevent their victims from going to police,” Darehshori said, “The aggressive enforcement tactics being used by ICE under the Trump administration will likely make survivors more reluctant than ever to access the help they need.”
An Alliance for Immigrant Survivors survey reinforces fears that the Trump administration’s enforcement practices have given abusers a powerful tool for controlling their victims. Of 170 advocates and attorneys surveyed nationwide in the spring of 2025, over 75 percent said their clients are fearful of contacting the police and over 70 percent said their clients have concerns about going to court for a matter related to their abuser.
Benefits of the U visa program stretch beyond intimate partner violence cases and immigrant communities. Studies link those responsible for domestic violence to a wide array of other crimes outside of the home. People interviewed described cases of immigrant victims providing essential help in wage theft cases, murders, robberies, hate crimes, and stranger rape or sexual assault cases. They also described multiple safeguards within the program that ensure that any false claims are caught.
The U visa program is far from perfect, Human Rights Watch said. Too few visas are available, it takes years for victims to obtain one, and the process can seem arbitrary since law enforcement has a great deal of discretion on whether to provide the certification required for a successful application.
Nonetheless, the program is a crucial tool to keep people in the United States safer and for the government to meet its human rights obligations to address gender-based violence and protect victims. Congress should embrace measures to strengthen and expand the program, Human Rights Watch said.
“The U visa helps break through the fear that often silences survivors and gives them the security to seek help and support investigations without risking their families’ well-being,” said Saloni Sethi, commissioner of the New York City’s Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence. “Strengthening and streamlining the U visa process would allow more survivors to come forward and receive the support they deserve, help prosecute offenders, and contribute to a safer New York City.”
EU Right-Wing Lawmakers Target Civil Society
Nongovernmental groups have sounded the alarm as the European Parliament’s new “Scrutiny Working Group” on funding for nongovernmental groups held its first meeting on November 26. The inquiry is painted as an effort to boost transparency of the use of EU grants by civil society. But its superfluous mandate, narrow focus on nonprofit organizations, and biased composition make it look like a political witch hunt designed to silence and stigmatize the groups.
Right and far-right political groups that have repeatedly demonstrated hostility toward independent watchdogs created the scrutiny body. The Greens and Left boycotted the initiative, while the socialists and liberals staged a walkout at the inaugural meeting.
Robust oversight of EU spending already exists and all beneficiaries of EU funding must meet among the strongest transparency requirements in the world. Programs like LIFE, the EU’s funding instrument for climate action at the center of scrutiny, are strictly monitored. Neither the European Commission, nor the parliament’s budgetary committee through its mandated budget discharge procedures, nor a recent audit by the European Court of Auditors have found any evidence of wrongdoing by nongovernmental groups.
Public funding typically allows organizations to independently perform essential watchdog functions, offer independent expertise, support and represent vulnerable groups, and ensure that basic rights are safeguarded against powerful private interests. Weakening their funding undermines nongovernmental groups’ legitimate role in the policy making process and threatens to erode the rule of law.
This scrutiny body adds to mounting concerns over the erosion of civic space in the EU. Independent groups face criminal charges, smear campaigns, administrative obstacles, and abusive lawsuits. These tactics extend to countries like France, where regulations and threats of funding cuts stifle civil society; Greece and Italy, which heavily obstruct and criminalize migrant rights defenders; and Germany, where civil society groups face politically motivated scrutiny. Hungary has notoriously targeted civil society under the guise of protecting national sovereignty and is considering a repressive law to defund and dissolve organizations seen as “foreign-influenced.”
Civil society organizations welcome transparent accountability applied fairly across all beneficiaries. EU lawmakers should uphold civil society’s essential contribution to democratic resilience, and take measures to strengthen, not marginalize, their much-needed work.
Hong Kong: Deadly Fire Demands Transparency, Accountability
(Bangkok) – The Hong Kong government should ensure a transparent investigation and accountability for wrongful acts linked to the residential fire that killed at least 151 people and injured 79, Human Rights Watch said today.
On November 26, 2025, a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a housing complex under maintenance. The government’s preliminary investigations found that some of the construction netting covering the eight buildings did not meet fire safety standards, and arrested 13 people linked to the maintenance company for manslaughter. Hong Kong authorities should establish an independent commission to investigate the fire, stop suppressing criticism, and drop charges against three people arrested for peaceful activism.
“The Wang Fuk Court fire raises serious concerns about the Chinese government’s crushing of what had been Hong Kong’s free press, democratic legislature, and vibrant civil society, and the impact on government oversight and safety,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s crucially important not to treat those demanding answers for the tragic fire as criminals.”
Since the fire, there have been growing demands for government accountability. Wang Fuk Court residents had previously protested the hiring of the maintenance company with a poor compliance record, alleging bid-rigging and corruption. They had also filed safety complaints, including concerning the building materials, which the authorities ignored, media reported.
Hong Kong authorities have suppressed peaceful criticism and grassroots initiatives. On November 28, hundreds gathered near Wang Fuk Court to donate and distribute supplies to victims. But as the initiative gained popularity, the government sent in the police, demanded that the volunteers leave, and had government workers take over the site.
On November 29, police detained Miles Kwan Ching-fung, a university student who started an online petition calling for an independent investigation. Kwan was reportedly arrested on suspicion of “seditious intention,” a national security crime. Although he was seen leaving the police station on December 1, the police released no information about the case. Kwan’s online petition and an associated Instagram account were taken down.
On December 1, local media reported that national security police took away two people—a volunteer who assisted victims, and the former district councilor Kenneth Cheung Kam-hung—on suspicion of “inciting hatred against the government.” Again, the police did not disclose any information.
The Hong Kong Security Bureau chief, Chris Tang Ping-Keung, has accused people of spreading misinformation and characterized such acts as “destabilizing Hong Kong.” The Chinese government’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong warned that any “anti-China and anti-Hong Kong” actors who attempted to use the disaster to “incite hatred toward the government” would be punished under the city’s draconian national security laws.
The Hong Kong authorities should not respond to public criticism following disasters in a manner similar to China’s government, Human Rights Watch said. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the 2011 Wenzhou high-speed rail collision, and the 2022 Covid outbreak in Wuhan, the Chinese authorities imprisoned citizens calling for accountability, muzzled whistleblowers, victims and their families, censored information, and even destroyed evidence.
By contrast, Hong Kong authorities responded to a deadly fire in 1996, when Hong Kong was still a British colony, by carrying out a sweeping independent investigation that improved building safety standards.
The current oppression in Hong Kong has not completely deterred people from publicly expressing their views. Thousands of Hong Kong people have laid flowers at a site near Wang Fuk Court. After Kwan’s detention, Hongkongers abroad, including those who have fled because of the draconian national security laws, started an online petition to demand accountability, and organized vigils and protests in Australia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
“The Hong Kong government should set up an independent inquiry into the fire instead of threatening to arrest people who are asking hard questions,” Pearson said. “This tragedy can’t be reversed but the authorities can avoid compounding it by holding those responsible—including government officials—to account and adequately compensating the victims.”
Hong Kong: Deadly Fire Demands Transparency, Accountability
(Bangkok) – The Hong Kong government should ensure a transparent investigation and accountability for wrongful acts linked to the residential fire that killed at least 151 people and injured 79, Human Rights Watch said today.
On November 26, 2025, a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a housing complex under maintenance. The government’s preliminary investigations found that some construction materials covering the eight buildings did not meet fire safety standards, and arrested 13 people linked to the maintenance company for manslaughter. Hong Kong authorities should establish an independent commission to investigate the fire, stop suppressing criticism, and drop charges against three people arrested for peaceful activism.
“The Wang Fuk Court fire raises serious concerns about the Chinese government’s crushing of what had been Hong Kong’s free press, democratic legislature, and vibrant civil society, and the impact on government oversight and safety,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “It’s crucially important not to treat those demanding answers for the tragic fire as criminals.”
Since the fire, there have been growing demands for government accountability. Wang Fuk Court residents had previously protested the hiring of the maintenance company with a poor compliance record, alleging bid-rigging and corruption. They had also filed safety complaints, including concerning the building materials, which the authorities ignored, media reported.
Hong Kong authorities have suppressed peaceful criticism and grassroots initiatives. On November 28, hundreds gathered near Wang Fuk Court to donate and distribute supplies to victims. But as the initiative gained popularity, the government sent in the police, demanded that the volunteers leave, and had government workers take over the site.
On November 29, police detained Miles Kwan Ching-fung, a university student who started an online petition calling for an independent investigation. Kwan was reportedly arrested on suspicion of “seditious intention,” a national security crime. Although he was seen leaving the police station on December 1, the police released no information about the case. Kwan’s online petition and an associated Instagram account were taken down.
On December 1, local media reported that national security police took away two people—a volunteer who assisted victims, and the former district councilor Kenneth Cheung Kam-hung—on suspicion of “inciting hatred against the government.” Again, the police did not disclose any information.
The Hong Kong Security Bureau chief, Chris Tang Ping-Keung, has accused people of spreading misinformation and characterized such acts as “destabilizing Hong Kong.” The Chinese government’s Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong warned that any “anti-China and anti-Hong Kong” actors who attempted to use the disaster to “incite hatred toward the government” would be punished under the city’s draconian national security laws.
The Hong Kong authorities should not respond to public criticism following disasters in a manner similar to China’s government, Human Rights Watch said. After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, the 2011 Wenzhou high-speed rail collision, and the 2022 Covid outbreak in Wuhan, the Chinese authorities imprisoned citizens calling for accountability, muzzled whistleblowers, victims and their families, censored information, and even destroyed evidence.
By contrast, Hong Kong authorities responded to a deadly fire in 1996, when Hong Kong was still a British colony, by carrying out a sweeping independent investigation that improved building safety standards.
The current oppression in Hong Kong has not completely deterred people from publicly expressing their views. Thousands of Hong Kong people have laid flowers at a site near Wang Fuk Court. After Kwan’s detention, Hongkongers abroad, including those who have fled because of the draconian national security laws, started an online petition to demand accountability, and organized vigils and protests in Australia, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
“The Hong Kong government should set up an independent inquiry into the fire instead of threatening to arrest people who are asking hard questions,” Pearson said. “This tragedy can’t be reversed but the authorities can avoid compounding it by holding those responsible—including government officials—to account and adequately compensating the victims.”
Thailand: Montagnard Activist Extradited to Vietnam
(Bangkok) – Thai authorities forcibly returned to Vietnam the prominent Montagnard human rights activist Y Quynh Bdap, putting him at risk of torture and other serious abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.
Thai authorities extradited Bdap, 33, on November 28, 2025, two days after Thailand’s Court of Appeal upheld a criminal court’s 2024 ruling that he could be sent back to Vietnam. Thai immigration police initially arrested Bdap on immigration charges in Bangkok in 2024, after Vietnamese authorities requested his extradition. Bdap had been living in Thailand since 2018 and had been recognized as a refugee by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; his deportation violates the principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning people to places where they are likely to face persecution.
“The Thai government has blatantly violated the country’s anti-torture law and its international legal obligations by returning Y Quynh Bdap to Vietnam, where he faces a prison sentence after an unfair trial and the risk of torture,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government’s willingness to assist Vietnam in repressing human rights activists is appalling.”
The Vietnamese government persecuted Bdap for years, Human Rights Watch said. Vietnamese state media have accused him of being from a family with “a tradition” of opposing the Vietnamese Communist Party and accused his grandfather of being “a henchman” for the United States during the Vietnam War. His father was imprisoned for three years for “inciting” a public protest.
In 2016, Bdap traveled to Thailand for a conference on religious freedom. When he returned to Vietnam, the Vietnamese police detained him for seven days and interrogated him about his trip. He was subsequently placed under intrusive surveillance, leading him to flee to Bangkok in 2018.
While in Thailand, Bdap founded the Montagnards Stand for Justice, which sought to protect and promote the right to freedom of religion and other rights of Montagnards in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. An Indigenous minority, Montagnards have faced political persecution, forced repudiation of their religious beliefs, shuttering of Christian house churches, and constant monitoring and surveillance by Vietnam security forces.
In June 2023, after an outbreak of violence in Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands, authorities arrested scores of Montagnards and criminally charged them and several others in exile, including Bdap, with “terrorism” and other crimes. During a short mass trial by a “mobile court” in January 2024 involving about 100 defendants, Bdap was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In early March 2024, the Vietnamese government, without providing tangible evidence, labeled the Montagnards Stand for Justice and the Montagnard Support Group as “terrorist” organizations linked to the Dak Lak violence and other anti-state criminal activity.
Days later, Vietnamese police traveled to Thailand and visited two neighborhoods near Bangkok with populations of Montagnard asylum seekers and refugees, questioning dozens about Bdap’s whereabouts, intimidating several with accusations of illegally departing Vietnam, and urging them to return to Vietnam or face criminal charges and extradition.
Thai police then arrested Bdap in June on the basis of an extradition request by Vietnamese authorities. He had been in prison during his extradition trial and appeal, up until his forced return to Vietnam on November 28.
In a November 2025 report, Human Rights Watch documented how Vietnam has increasingly engaged in transnational repression in Thailand, targeting especially exiled ethnic minorities with harassment and intimidation. Thai authorities have increasingly participated in these abuses by cooperating with Vietnamese authorities and allowing Vietnamese police to interrogate asylum seekers and refugees. Exiles and immigration lawyers believe the Vietnam government presses Thailand to keep some exiles in immigration detention indefinitely, by denying them bail, to pressure them to cooperate with Vietnamese police.
UN human rights experts have criticized the misuse of terrorism charges in the 2023 mass trial of Montagnards in Vietnam and the reported use of evidence obtained by torture, and have said that targeting Bdap for his association with the Montagnards Stand For Justice is part of the intensifying discrimination and repression against the Montagnard population. Human Rights Watch has no information about Bdap’s involvement in the 2023 violence in Dak Lak but considers his trial in Vietnam unfair and is gravely concerned about his safety following his extradition to Vietnam.
Vietnamese authorities have not yet confirmed that they have Bdap in their custody.
Concerned foreign governments should strongly press the Vietnamese government to disclose his whereabouts and request access to him given the high risk of torture and other ill-treatment.
Bdap’s extradition violates Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, which prohibits extradition when there is a substantial risk of torture or ill-treatment upon return.
Thailand is also obligated to respect the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture, or other serious ill-treatment, or a threat to their life. This principle is codified in the Convention Against Torture, to which Thailand is a party, and customary international law.
“The Bdap case demonstrates the Thai government’s unwillingness to respect international law and protect foreign human rights advocates who live in Thailand,” Pearson said. “Concerned governments should expedite resettlement of Vietnamese and other nationals at risk in Thailand to places where they will be safe.”